Robert Peary

Robert Edwin Peary (May 6, 1856 - February 20, 1920) was an American explorer who is usually credited as the first person, on April 6, 1909, to reach the Geographic North Pole .

Polar historians believe that Peary honestly thought he had reached the pole. However a 1996 analysis of a newly-discovered copy of Peary's record indicates that Peary must've been in fact 20 miles (32km) short of the Pole.

He set off with 23 men on July 6, 1908, but by the time he reached the North Pole only five of his men, Matthew Henson, Oatah, Egingwah, Seegloo, and Ookeah, remained. In his diary for the 7th April (but actually written up much later when preparing his journals for publication, Peary wrote "The Pole at last!!! The prize of 3 centuries, my dream and ambition for 23 years. Mine at last ..".

He was also the author of several books, the most famous being Northward over the Great Ice (1898) and Nearest the Pole (1907). The movie Glory & Honor by Kevin Hooks (2000) chronicles his journey to the pole.

In his book Ninety Degrees North, polar historian and author Fergus Fleming describes Peary as "undoubtedly the most driven, possibly the most successful and probably the most unpleasant man in the annals of polar exploration."

He was a graduate of Bowdoin College, Maine. He is buried in Arlington National Cemetery. Matthew Henson was buried next to him when he died twenty years later.